Our Cats’ Bizarre Behavior with Our New Bed

On the 4th of July, Matt and I did something rather “patriotic” — we bought a new mattress. We found one that we liked, and thanks to a holiday sale it was a great deal, so we handed over our debit card and had the mattress delivered a few days later.

We were so excited for the new mattress. But our cats weren’t sure what to think once it was delivered.

Ellie & CG on our bed.

The moment after the delivery men left, you would have thought we had placed a coyote cage in the middle of our bedroom!

Ellie was sure it was a monster. CG, being super brave, decided to conquer it by getting on top of the mattress as soon as possible. Yes, I’m sure it smelled different, and it’s a few inches higher than our last bed, but it was really funny to watch them react to it.

And you would never believe what the cats started to do then.

Our last bed was only about 18″ high, so the cats could easily climb up and down. They were both pros. This new bed is perhaps 24″ high, and they both soon learned that climbing it would be more than a challenge.

CG’s never been a jumper. There’s only time I can remember him jumping: I lived at an apartment a few years ago where pigeons lived outside of my bedroom window (eww). Whenever CG heard the pigeons, he would get so excited that he would race into my room and propel himself on top of my bed to watch them. It was the oddest thing — it seemed like he didn’t even think about it when he would jump for the pigeons. Especially since he’d climb into bed at all other times.

Ellie’s a bit more adventurous. She likes to leap/propel herself onto the couch and bed. It’s not really a jump, as she still has to dig her claws in and climb up. So you can only imagine our surprise when they started to leap onto the bed! Sometimes they underestimate, sometimes they overestimate and fly halfway across the bed. I won’t lie — there have been times when Ellie has tried to jump on, only to fly off the other side.

The most interesting part of all of this is that they won’t jump on to the bed if we’re in bed. If we are, they’ll either ask to be lifted up or they’ll climb. How bizarre!

Getting down is also more of a challenge. They can’t simply reach down to the carpeted floor and slink down. Now, there’s a bit more strategy that goes into it. Sometimes they jump; most times Ellie will stretch her body as far down the side of the bed as it will go to reach the floor, then swing her legs off.

Consequently, we think we’re going to find a way to help them a bit. They seem to be doing just fine, but I certainly don’t want them to get hurt accidentally. I think we’ll have a fix in a few days, so I’ll update you soon!

That’s just it — we didn’t expect them to jump, we thought they would climb like they usually do. Either way, I think it’s great that they’re trying new things/new ways to get up on the bed. I think it helps give them a bit more confidence!